Please forward this message to your colleagues and friends — we look forward to seeing you in Shanghai! The Crossroads conference is open to all topics relevant to cultural studies. Here you can find a number of suggested topics provided by the Crossroads organizer as food for thought, drawing on the work of the invited keynote, plenary and spotlight speakers, and on more general themes in cultural studies research.

However, all contemporary cultural studies topics are welcome at this conference. We are writing to express our gravest concern over the recent treatment of our colleagues in academia in Turkey. In the wake of the coup attempt of July 15, , 2, academics have been fired, while an even larger number is facing suspension and disciplinary investigation.

We acknowledge the serious threat the military coup attempt posed to national security and the personal safety of your President. We also recognize that the times we live in see an ominous surge in terrorist attacks globally. Yet the suspension of constitutional rights and legal procedures under the State of Emergency in the name of anti-terrorism forms a serious threat to Turkey, too.

The State of Emergency has made it possible to silence and eliminate critics and political opponents, even though they have no ties to the Gülen community that is being held responsible for the coup attempt.

This spate of dismissals follows upon months of layoffs, prosecution, investigations, and intimidation targeting of the signatories, who are being accused by the government of treason and supporting terrorism. Ironically, it was your own party that had initiated the peace process and declared its intention to terminate this year long conflict, which has claimed too many lives on both sides.

We feel urged to remind you that the Peace Academics merely have exercised their freedom of speech. We fear that the purge of these scholars only forecloses a civil means of resolving the existing conflict. We will closely follow the upcoming court case involving the four academics and leaders of the Peace Campaign, who are charged with 7,5 years in prison, after having spent several weeks in detention last spring already.

In the aftermath of the coup attempt, university deans at private and public institutions as well as four rectors have been forced to resign from their positions, though allegedly a substantial number of them are now being reinstated. Moreover, the Turkish Higher Education Council recently obtained the authority to investigate, suspend, and fire academic personnel at private and public higher education institutions, yet the State of Emergency renders legal means to contest decisions largely unavailable to those affected.

In , our association held its bi-annual conference in Istanbul, which was hosted by Bilgi University. We do so as an organization that has looked forward to Turkey becoming a leader in the academic world as well as in democracy and human rights. The ongoing developments in Turkey are a blow to our hopes for Turkey and we call upon you and your government to bring them to an end immediately.

Please see the list of the members of the new Board here. The membership also voted YES on the proposed change to bylaws. This means that, from now on, roughly half the Board will stand for election every two years.

The amendment also allowed for a one-time change in the term length for half the incoming Board, so as to set up the initial staggering of terms. Half of the new Board will thus serve the Board for 6 years, while the other half will serve it for 4 years. Of the 32 nations qualified to play at the FIFA World Cup, 20 countries competed at the previous tournament in Both Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, with the former becoming the smallest country in terms of population to reach the World Cup.

Egypt, returning to the finals after their last appearance in ; Morocco, who last competed in ; Peru, returning after ; and Senegal, competing for the second time after reaching the quarter-finals in Notable countries that failed to qualify include four-time champions Italy for the first time since , three-time runners-up and third placed in the Netherlands for the first time since , and four reigning continental champions: The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for Ghana and Ivory Coast , who had both made the previous three tournaments.

The draw was held on 1 December at Pot 1 contained the hosts Russia who were automatically assigned to position A1 and the best seven teams, pot 2 contained the next best eight teams, and so on for pots 3 and 4. However, teams from the same confederation still were not drawn against each other for the group stage, except that two UEFA teams could be in each group.

Initially, each team had to name a preliminary squad of 30 players but, in February , this was increased to Players in the final squad may be replaced for serious injury up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match and such replacements do not need to have been named in the preliminary squad. For players named in the player preliminary squad, there was a mandatory rest period between 21 and 27 May , except for those involved in the UEFA Champions League Final played on 26 May.

On 29 March , FIFA released the list of 36 referees and 63 assistant referees selected to oversee matches. VAR operations for all games are operating from a single headquarters in Moscow, which receives live video of the games and are in radio contact with the on-field referees. VAR had a significant impact in several games. Russia proposed the following host cities: The bid evaluation report stated: Three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed.

In October , Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to Construction of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow region was cancelled by the regional government, and also in the capital, Otkrytiye Arena was competing with Dynamo Stadium over which would be constructed first. The final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September The number of cities was further reduced to 11 and number of stadiums to 12 as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were dropped from the final list.

Sepp Blatter stated in July that, given the concerns over the completion of venues in Russia, the number of venues for the tournament may be reduced from 12 to He also said, "We are not going to be in a situation, as is the case of one, two or even three stadiums in South Africa , where it is a problem of what you do with these stadiums".

They were satisfied with the progress. Of the twelve venues used, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and the Saint Petersburg Stadium — the two largest stadiums in Russia — were used most, both hosting seven matches.

Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara all hosted six matches, including one quarter-final match each, while the Otkrytiye Stadium in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don hosted five matches, including one round-of match each.

Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Saransk all hosted four matches, but did not host any knockout stage games. Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament.

Costs continued to balloon as preparations were underway. Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don was upgraded with automated air traffic control systems, modern surveillance, navigation, communication, control, and meteorological support systems.

Saransk Airport received a new navigation system; the city also got two new hotels, Mercure Saransk Centre Accor Hotels and Four Points by Sheraton Saransk Starwood Hotels as well as few other smaller accommodation facilities.

The last facility commissioned was a waste treatment station in Volgograd. In Yekaterinburg, where four matches are hosted, hosting costs increased to over 7. Preference, especially in the key areas, was given to those with knowledge of foreign languages and volunteering experience, but not necessarily to Russian nationals.

Free public transport services were offered for ticketholders during the World Cup, including additional trains linking between host cities, as well as services such as bus service within them. The full schedule was announced by FIFA on 24 July without kick-off times, which were confirmed later. Russia was placed in position A1 in the group stage and played in the opening match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 14 June against Saudi Arabia , the two lowest-ranked teams of the tournament at the time of the final draw.

The Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg hosted the first semi-final on 10 July and the third place play-off on 14 July. The opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 June , at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, preceding the opening match of the tournament between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia.

At the start of the ceremony, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech, welcoming the countries of the world to Russia and calling football a uniting force. Competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams groups A to H. Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin basis, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the knockout stage.

Ten European teams and four South American teams progressed to the knockout stage, together with Japan and Mexico. For the first time since , Germany reigning champions did not advance past the first round. For the first time since , no African team progressed to the second round. For the first time, the fair play criteria came into use, when Japan qualified over Senegal due to having received fewer yellow cards. Only one match, France v Denmark, was goalless.

Until then there were a record 36 straight games in which at least one goal was scored. All times listed below are local time. The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played two periods of 15 minutes each and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.

If a match went into extra time, each team was allowed to make a fourth substitution, the first time this had been allowed in a FIFA World Cup tournament. Twelve own goals were scored during the tournament, doubling the record of six set in In total, only four players were sent off in the entire tournament, the fewest since A player is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.

The award was sponsored by Hyundai. FIFA also published an alternate team of the tournament based on player performances evaluated through statistical data. Prize money amounts were announced in October The tournament logo was unveiled on 28 October by cosmonauts at the International Space Station and then projected onto Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre during an evening television programme. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that the logo was inspired by "Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation", and FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that it reflected the "heart and soul" of the country.

The official mascot for the tournament was unveiled 21 October , and selected through a design competition among university students. A public vote was used to select from three finalists—a cat, a tiger, and a wolf.